The River and The Highway
by Roseprincess1
Summary: The sequel to Kentucky Rain.
1. Default Chapter

The River and the Highway  
Author's Notes: This picks up almost instantly after "Kentucky Rain" The first chapter is more detailing the state of mind that Angel is in after what happened, and is setting up for the rest of the story.

Legal stuff: I dont own the TF's, this is purely for entertainment only.

The River and the HighwayHave you ever been in love? Now I don't mean the kind of love that you find in every day life, though that is wonderful too. No what I'm talking about here is the kind of love that runs so deep in your soul that it hurts. The kind of love where you can't spend more than 30 seconds with out thinking about the person that you're in love with.  
The kind where you are almost certain that your loved one can see right into your very soul, and that he or she knows you inside and out, that's the kind of love I'm talking about. That's the kind of love that only comes along once in a life time, if ever.  
Now what would you do if you were feeling that kind of love for someone, and you knew that there was no way in heaven, earth, or even hell, that you would ever be able to be with this person. Now I know that there are a great many people out there who believe that they have experienced this feeling. The man they love is African American. The woman they love is from a poorer family. Someone is in the army and can't marry right now. I'm sure everyone in those instances feels that they can't ever have the person they want. However that's not really the case you see. It can work out if you are willing to try hard enough. No I mean what if you were in love with a man that wasn't any thing at all like you, not even your own species.  
What if you were in love with a man that wasn't even human? A robot, silicon based organism that was from a world very far away in both space and time. A being that was created in a laboratory or a factory, not by their parents, some one who was twenty times your size and a thousand million times your own age. What would you do if you fell in love with a Tranformer? What would you do if you had fallen in love with Optimus Prime?  
  
That's my situation, you see?  
Nearly a month ago I found him half dead on the side of the road. I carried his spark back to my hotel room. In order to survive he became a part of me, shared my mind body and soul. And in the end I was more willing to have my self crushed to death by his mortal enemy than to let him die for good.  
I woke up in Portland general and realized that I was in love. It hurt worse than what Megatron had done to me. Bodies heal given enough time, spirits and hearts take a great deal more to mend. I knew that I could never ever ask him to come be with me, there's way. Unlike the other examples we REALLY are too different. So I left, to spare him the pain of trying to come to grips with it. To try and find a way to help my self.  
I had been at my father's family home for nearly a week, I was still covered in bruises but my arm was out of the sling and I was able to get around better. I woke up that rainy Sunday morning and went into the pantry to find something I could make breakfast out of. Guess what? I didn't even have a box of corn flakes to my name. I was the only person that ever stayed here any more and so there wasn't in the way of supplies. I sighed, not really wanting to go to the IGA but needing too.  
I was pulling my outfit on when the phone rang again. It was Alyssa on the other end. It was the seventh call in as many days; she was doing her level best trying to get my attention. I ignored it once again but she kept right on.  
"Angel?" She paused, "Look I know your there, please pick up the phone? I'm so worried about you. You should still be in the hospital. Please pick this thing up. I promise I won't talk about him this time, I promise!"  
The last three times she had called she had told me that Optimus was worried and wondered why I had taken off. Asking me if I would please just call him, those messages got deleted almost as soon as I got them.  
"ANGEL!" She was starting to get huffy on the other end, "Why are you being so stubborn? Pick up the phone please?"  
She waited for a few more second and I heard it click telling me that she had finally given up again for right now any how. I got the rest of the way dressed, put on my sunglasses to hide my shiner and headed down to the IGA.  
Everyone in town had been great. I had been elevated to the status of a local legend for getting rid of the things that had been attacking the town. The fact that I had saved some one else's life by doing that had only made the people around me that much more proud. My folks had seen me when I had gotten back to KY.  
My mom's worst fears had been confirmed, her baby girl had gotten her self nearly killed by helping a man. She'd been on the verge of hysterics and it had taking three days of begging to get her to let me come back to the farm alone. My dad on the other hand had been down right amazed and very proud that I had done some thing so selfless. I didn't think I'd done any thing special, I had chosen to help some one. Anyone who had been raised to care about other people and love life would have been willing to do the same thing. Still they were proud of me but realized that I needed time to work out the problems that this had caused. Emotionally and physically.  
So Dad had given me the keys to his mom's house and had told me to take the time I needed to get better. To say I was grateful was an understatement. I was ecstatic, being alone was what I wanted and he had understood that.  
So I was up there in Beattyville looking for peace of mind, and time to let my self get better. I wasn't expecting any thing to happen, but on that morning the moment I walked in, I was nearly assaulted by one of the local gossips who also happened to be the checking lady for the IGA. Jean Tary, took one look at me and pounced.  
"MISS ANGEL!!" I braced my self.  
"Hey Jean," I answered, "What's on your mind?"  
"There was someone here lookin' fer ya this morning."  
"Oh?" I blinked, betting it was Alyssa having snuck back into town. "What'd she want?"  
  
"Oh it wasn't a she hunny, it was a guy, looked about thirty five, blond, blue eyes Texas accent."  
I blinked, none of the guys I knew here or in Lexington fit that particular description.  
"Did he tell you his name Jean?"  
She nodded, "Yeah but I dun remember it." She stopped and thought for a second.  
"I think he said his name was Ryan."  
Now that really got to me, I didn't know any blonds and I didn't know any Ryan's.  
She kept on going, "He seemed really hot to trot to find you too honey, almost frantic" She grinned, "If you have a guy like that looking for you sweetie I'd start looking back. He was pretty cute."  
That more than any thing else she could have said hit me like a brick. I took a deep breath, the last thing I needed here and now was one of the townies thinking that they needed to salve my broken heart by fixing me up with someone. I convinced my self that was what she was up to and so moved off to finish the rest of my shopping.  
"Well Jean, if you see him again you know where to send him if he wants me that bad."  
"Okay hun. Please don't be mad at me. He seemed like he really wanted to see you."  
I shook my head at her and went off to find what I needed up at the house. Ten minutes later I was checked out and heading back to my truck. That's when I looked up and saw the guy standing there at the end of that parking lot. He had dark blond hair, very broad shoulders, and from what I could see he looked like a very handsome person. I couldn't get a good look at him from where he was standing but I got the distinct impression that he was staring at me. I dropped the last of my things in the bed and pulled the cover closed and then went around to the cab. That's when I found it, a fire and ice rose there slipped between the windshield and one of the wipers. I took one look at it and pulled the flower loose. I snapped around to and scanned the parking lot, there was no one there... even the man that had been down at the far end of the parking lot was gone.  
I stood there and gapped at it for a few moments and then noticed that there was some paper wrapped around the bottom of the stem. I pulled it loose and read what was written there.  
"I love you. Don't be scared and don't worry."  
"Watcha got there Miss Angel?"  
I jumped three feet straight up and whirled to find yet another town looking over my shoulder. Perry Little, one of the elderly men.  
"It's a note sir." I held it out to him.  
"Sissy," the local word for young unmarried girls, "I think yer pulling this old man's leg, that's just a buncha scribbling."  
I blinked and looked back down, indeed it was a bunch of symbols, some of them vaguely kanji looking, scrawled on the paper.  
"But...."  
He patted my shoulder, "Go home hunny, I think you need some more rest."  
I looked after him and stared at the note, it still made sense to me, I could still read it. But it was still the symbols. I paled a bit and crammed the thing into my pocket.  
  
Some thing odd was going on here and I wanted to find out what. Not to far away the man from before was watching me. A huge grin on his lips.  
"She'll guess eventually," He told some one over what resembled a cell phone. "Then I will explain it to her. Yeah I know, but this is the only way she'll accept it. See ya soon." 


	2. The River and The Highway part 2

The River and The Highway part 2

I got back to the house about fifteen minutes after finding the strange rose on my windshield. To say the very least I was more than a little bit up set; I believed that one of the local townies was trying to set me up with some one. It never occurred to me that there might be more to all of this than that.

It never occurred to me that any thing else might be going on until the moment I pulled up into my drive way and found Alyssa there leaning against a very familiar white lancia. She glared at me for a few seconds as I stepped out of the truck.

"Does your mom know that you're here?"

She grinned, "You kidding? I wanna live to make it to my next birthday."

I looked at the car and let out a huge sigh.

"So why did you come here?"

"Well first off, I want to know why you aren't returning my calls. Second you have a heard of people back in Oregon that are scared to death that something happened to you. Finally...."

I held up my hand to stop her, "Don't even go there. Please?"

"Why are you having such a hard time with this?"  
"That's a stupid question." I turned away from her and picked up one bag of groceries.

"Actually," This came from the car, "It's not that much of a dumb question mam."

I glared at the white autobot, "Did you just call me mam?"

I could tell he was flushing as he told me, "I'm sorry, I thought that's what humans called women they respected."

I stood there and looked at Wheeljack for a few seconds then shook my head and went into the house with my groceries. Alyssa of course followed me bound and determined to get something out of me on this new taboo of mine.

"I asked you a question." She told me leaning against the door jam.

"And I asked you to please not go there okay?" I was in the process of carrying the cereal that I suddenly now had no appetite for into the pantry. I was expecting her to come in there and harp on it some more. Instead she took a completely different tact.

"I thought you went after that because you were hungry?" She pointed at the box of corn flakes.

"I was, I'm not any more." I meant to set the thing on the shelf but my hands were shaking so hard that it missed and proceeded to hit the floor instead. I bent down to pick it up for some reason something as simple as dropping a box on the floor suddenly made me want to cry. She noticed this and came over to me.

"Angel, Listen to me okay? All of your life you've been living for everyone around you. To try and make their lives easier, your parents, your sister, your friends, and now this."

I looked up at her a little angry at those words, "And how do you propose I not do things like that? If I don't look after my folks who's going to? If I don't keep my sibling out of trouble who will? Explain that to me."

True to form she backed off a little bit and looked at me.

"I know it's hard, I have my own issues with my folks. As I'm sure you know, but sometimes you can't always take the easiest path."

"Do you think that what I've done has been easy?" I snapped.

"No, not really," She put her hand on mine, "But you have a right to be happy to, not just spend your life making sure the rest of the world is happy."

I managed to peel my self up off the floor but couldn't seem to work up the will to walk out of that pantry.

"How do you propose that the two of us can ever be together? I can hear my mom now," I took a deep breath and went into my mimicking tone, "Angel how could you think about being with some one like that! He's not even human!" I let out the remains of the breath and looked at her.

"You of all people should know that sometimes it's just simpler to let them have their way. I mean think about it! She flipped for me saying a Japanese guy was cute, how do you think she's gonna react to this?"

She shook her head, "Is that the real reason Angel? Or are you just scared that you don't have the right to have some one you love?"

"Maybe I am..." I trailed off, "Honestly I don't know, but if you think taking the path that causes the least pain is easy you got another thing coming."

"I don't know any more, all I know is that there is a man out there who loves you more than anything on this or any other planet in the universe." She walked over to me and put her arm around me, carefully because I was still sore, "and from what I saw and from what I heard you did, you love him to."

I pulled away from her, and walked back into the kitchen, "you think I should go back to him don't you?"

"I don't think any thing like that at all. What I do think that you should do something that I can tell you have never done Angel Kincaid, I think you should listen to your heart for once in your life."

"Listen to my heart?" I turned back to face her.

"Exactly, what dose it tell you that you want?"

I shook my head at her, "That's what I came to this place to try and figure out Alyssa."

"Then I suggest you start doing it," She then proceeded to shove me down in the nearest chair, "I also suggest that you start doing what the doctor said you should do."

"Oh slag now don't you start in on me too...!"

"OH I have no intention of starting in on you," she grinned and pointed to the door, "HE however, plans on making you follow doctor's orders if he has to hot glue you to the bed posts."

That was when I looked up and saw and unbelievably pissed Ratchet and a smirking Wheeljack, some how shrunk down to human sized and standing in my door way. Wheeljack looked me over then turned to Ratchet and stuck out is hand in his direction.

"Toldja... Pay up!"

The medic growled and proceeded to produce what I suppose they used as currency and then turned on me. The explosion hit with the force of the Hiroshima bomb.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I'VE BEEN ABOUT YOU!!?"  
All I could do was to sit there at my table and gape.

"NONE OF MY PAITENTS HAVE EVER **_EVER_** PULLED A STUNT LIKE THIS BEFORE! I SHOULD CONFINE YOU TO QUARTERS FOR THE REST OF YOU'RE..."

I held up my hand and he stopped and glared at me.

"And just who said I'm _your_ patient?" I asked, trying to get some of my old snark back.

"WHO the slag's patient do you THINK you are!? I'm the one that's been taking care of you from the moment you showed up at the ark and I plan on continuing to take care of you until _I _bloody well say your recovered, NOT YOU, not those hacks at that miserable excuse for a human hospital, ME!"

He then proceeded to lower him self down to my eye level, narrow his eyes to a pair of sapphire slits and tell me in a very quiet sounding voice, "DO I make my self perfectly clear young lady?"

"Yessir." I think I nearly swallowed my tongue at that point.

The medic nodded and then stood up grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over one shoulder, then demanded to know the following.

"Where's your bed room?"

I let out a big sigh and pointed at the back of the house as I was getting hauled away I looked down at Alyssa and tried my best to save what lil dignity I had left.

"By the way, I'm a lil lonely here, why don't you guys stay here with me?"

She grinned from ear to ear, "Why we'd love to Angel."

"Yah I kind of thought that..." I frowned my way into the bed room and got dumped on the bed.

The rest of the day consisted of me having Wheeljack and Alyssa set up in the living room with my game cube and copy of PIKMIN 2 while I was stranded in bed with iron fist Ratchet on guard out side my door. How he expected me to sleep like that I have no idea but some how I did manage to doze off before it got night.

To day had left me with a whole lot to think about and an overzealous doctor bot as a bodyguard. I didn't expect much else to go on but something else did happen. Though at that point I was beginning to believe it was a dream.

I had managed to slip by ratchet and was going to get something to drink. I took a look out the front window and saw him again. By him I mean the blond guy that I had seen the day before, once again standing there in the rain and just looking at me. I stared for a good five minutes this time, then looked away to make sure my body guard hadn't caught me yet. When I looked back he was gone, need less to say my life was becoming more and stranger by the moment. Though I saw this man it never entered my mind who it may be and it never occurred to me that the look on his face was something more that just idle curiosity.


	3. The River and The Highway part 3

The River and The Highway part 3

I was relived when I woke up the next morning and found both Alyssa and Wheeljack out cold on the sofa, the poor lil' PIKMIN stuck in perpetual pause. I managed to get my self dressed and headed out to the kitchen intent on sneaking back down to town just due to the fact that I had been ordered to stay put and now had a sever case of cabin fever as a result. Why I thought I would be able to make it past Ratchet I had no idea but believe it or not when I got to the kitchen I found him at the table with his head down on his arms.

Now I am the original insufferable klutz, so I did my level best to sneak past him and wound up making about ten times more noise than I would have if I had just plain walked out. Still either he was a hard sleeper, or now looking back on it was playing possum to set me up. Either way I managed to get out with out him catching me. I got into the black truck and put the thing in gear then headed out and down into the town. What I planned on doing down there I had no concept. I just wanted to get out of the house so badly that I was willing to risk my neck by sneaking out.

Getting to down town was easy enough, when the festival isn't going on this is a community that shuts down at six and pulls the sidewalks in at eight. In other words it was what could be termed quiet. I stopped by the library to pick up some books to keep my self occupied for the coming internment that knew I would get the moment I returned to the house. Then I headed over to the video store just to poke around and purposefully make the clerk mad by asking for anime in a town like this.

I had been out almost an hour and basically hadn't really accomplished much, so I decided to pay a visit to the store just for the appearances of getting something that I might need. I choose milk this time. I knew to Alyssa this would be a dead give away that I was just killing time, she knows that I can't stand the stuff. Hopefully though she wouldn't go and squeal on me to the Dr. McCoy wannabe and I would at least get away with it this one time.

That was when I noticed that someone was following me, that same guy from the last few days. This time though there were three guys following him. I caught this as I pulled the 2% out of the cooler and noticed them start after me.

I will admit, right then and there, I wasn't thinking rationally. If I had been what was really going on might have occurred to me sooner. I wasn't though and for the most part I just saw four guys following me. So all the self defense training my mom had put me through as a college freshman came back to me and I went hiding from them. I did this by clutching my milk to me like a coward and ducking behind a huge stack of TP that I had just spotted. Humiliating? Hell yes. But it was better that what I thought could happen if my "stalker" got hold of me.

I stood there behind it and listened to them walk by and eves dropped on what they were saying to one another.

"You sure you saw her come this way boss?" The dark haired one asked in his nearly Cajun accent.

"Yes, she did. She must have taken off." This was the blond; he seemed to deliberately be keeping any tone out of his voice.

Some one else chimed in almost instantly and this one just kept on.

"Well what's she hiding from any how? I mean really it's not like some one's going to hurt her. Honestly after everything she's seen in the last week or so you'd think shed be a lil' more open minded about all of this." He stopped, "Hey maybe she's just scared, I be that's it. She's scared and she thinks that..."

This one was deliberately cut off by the third new guy.

"I think he may have something there. But if she's scared the most logical thing to do right now would be to back off for the moment and let her clam down."

I heard the other one open his mouth to start up again but the first blond guy stopped him.

"I think he's right, what we need to do for the moment is just let her calm down, when she realizes what's going on I think she will stop being afraid." He paused, "Lets head back."

I peeked out from my hiding place and saw them head for the front of the store. I made a point of waiting until my followers had been given plenty of time to get clear of the store, actually a lot more than I realized. Once I was satisfied that I was alone, I took my milk and headed back up to the front end my self. Taking my time and making sure that I took a different route from any of those guys.

I made it up to the front of the store and then once again ducked behind the nearest Angel sized object. There where those guys in the process of yakking to the town gossip who ran the register. This was just what I needed. Knowing my luck shed probably already told them everything about me but my blood type. I took another look around and sure enough she was talking to him, the blond, about a mile a minute and pointing in the direction of the farm. That's right Jean, go ahead and give my stalker detailed instructions on how to find me. Why I had thought I would get peace and quiet in this town was beyond me. I should have known that the townies would never let it go. And indeed she seemed determined to send this person after me.

As I watched he reached over the counter and shook her hand and obviously thanked her for what she had told him. He said something to the three men with him and they all headed out to the parking lot. I gave them time to get gone and took my rapidly warming milk up to the counter intent on chewing out this woman for what she was doing.

"JEAN!!" I snapped.

She looked up at me and had the audacity to smile.

"Hey hunny, that guy that was looking for you was just in here."

"I noticed," I thumped the milk down, "Mind telling me why you feel compelled to tell a guy that you have no idea about, or acquaintance with, all of my personal information?"

"Uhh... its just he seems so eager to find you Angel. I mean almost to the point of being desperate."

"That's just the point Jean! What if this guy was trying to kill me or some thing?"

"Oh Miss Angel, your over reacting just a bit. This fella doesn't want to hurt any one. He said he's looking for you, that he's worried about you. That you..."

I promptly cut her off.

"Tary! You know what happened! I've got some really nasty people mad at me, what if this "Nice guy" was just telling you all of this to get you to spill the beans on me so he could come and cut my head off!?"

"Miss Angel, You've been down right mean since you came back. Ryan guy assures me that he knows you. He says he's been all over Kentucky just looking for you!"

"That's just what someone out to get me would tell you!"

"I think you're over reacting. If you would just see this guy..."

"Jean, that's the problem in this town they are too willing to just go on a person's looks and appearance. The people here are just too trusting!"

I was really beginning to get irritated at this point. The woman had been giving out details about me and couldn't seem to get it through her head that I had just been through something very stressful. That I was scared and probably would be for a very long time, and that I was an emotional and physical wreck. I really was over reacting though. The stress of the situation and loss that I believed I had suffered were taking a toll on me. As a result I was going off at the very woman who had put the thing I wanted the most on the track back to me.

"Do you have any idea what some of the people I have mad at me would do to me if they found me? Killing me wouldn't be enough for them, they'd take me and dangle my life over the head of the one person that ...."

Now she cut me off, "Miss Angel, I Know your up set, and hurt. But to be honest Ryan didn't seem like he was here for any other reason than that he genuinely wanted to see a girl that he cared about."

I put my head in my hand and groaned, then looked back up at her doing the best I could to stay calm and not blow up in the poor woman's face a second time.

"Jean, I don't know any one like that. I don't know any blonds and I don't know any Ryan's" I sighed.

That was when some one walked up behind me and put their hand on my shoulder.

"Actually" He said, "It's pronounced Orion."


	4. The River and The Highway part 4

The River and The Highway Part 4

All I could do was stand there and gape. The thing that I had wanted had some how come true. There was Optimus standing in front of me, but as a human. Still I knew it was him. I had seen him with out his mask on and this was the face that I now saw smiling down at me. The most incredible blue eyes in the universe looking at me in the way that I had only dreamed they would be able to. Like I said, all I could do was to stand there and gape while the other three he had been with came back in the store looking for the both of us.

"There you two are!" This was the one that had been talking a mile a minute before.

Now that I got a good look at him I could tell instantly that this was Bluestreak. I hadn't met him much back at the ark but I had seen him. He grinned at me and waved like a goof ball.

Behind him another person walked up, one that looked a whole lot like him but a lot calmer. Again I recognized him, this had to be Prowl. Then finally there was the dark haired one that had the accent. This was none other than my buddy Jazz man, who proceeded to drape him self over Optimus' shoulder and grin at me in a way that only he could manage.

"Hey there Kitten, where you been hiding from us all this time?"

I started to answer when I caught Jean smirking at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Not one word you," I growled.

"Oh not one word, not one," She grinned then looked at Optimus. "Now Mr. Pax, I think you need to take her home and make sure she gets some rest, she's gotten meaner than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

That earned her weird looks from Jazz, Streak and Prowl but got a huge goofy grin from Prime.

"I think her Doctor will be more than willing to do what ever it takes to keep her home. Seeing as how she ran off this morning when she wasn't supposed to."

"Oh yeah," I muttered, "Rub it in."

That earned me snickers from Streak and Jazz and a dirty look from Prowl. Then Optimus proceeded to put one arm around my shoulders and lead me out of the store. The moment we were in the parking lot I stepped back and tried to demand some kind of explanation.

"How...?"

That earned me more grins, all around this time.

"Well I'm sure you saw Ratchet and Wheeljack are human sized now?" Optimus asked.

I nodded blankly and he continued.

"Well a shrink ray is one of the lil' toys that Wheeljack had been working on for a while. As for why we look human, chalk that up to Hound and his holograms." He held out his wrist and proceeded to show me what looked like an over complicated watch.

"So you're not human?"

"No," He smiled at me and proceeded to change the subject, "Do you have any idea how hard you are to track down?"

I blinked, "Well that was kind of the idea..."

I turned away from him and focused on looking at my truck. I have to admit after this I had the dubious honor of being one of the few women in the universe who was able to draw and exasperated sigh from the leader of the autobots.

"Why did you run off Angel?"

I refused to look at him, "Do I have to explain?"

He opened his mouth to say more to me and that was when the "Guards" from the house spotted us and descended down on us.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Ratchet pounced.

Alyssa and Wheeljack weren't very far behind, every single one of them in some sort of hologram to make them at least passably human.

"Well I told you she'd take off again," Wheeljack commented. "Come on pay up."

Once again the medic forked over credits to the engineer. I have to admit, being the butt of this running gag was getting a little bit old at this point. Still it was my own fault for taking off and its something that I should have known would come back to haunt me.

Ratchet seemed ready to pounce again after paying off his dun, thank fully Optimus came to my rescue this time.

"Don't be angry with her Ratchet, she had to have some milk for the house. And besides now all of us are here so we can help you keep an eye on her."

Alyssa grinned and reached out, "Keys please?"

I handed them over and got up into the cab of my vehicle, Prime schooched in beside me and the rest of the guys all plied into the bed. A few moments later we were back at the house and I was getting the tongue lashing of a life time.

"I told you that you are not to run off do you hear me!? You're still hurt, you may want to act like nothing is wrong young lady but if you don't do what I say you may have problems for the rest of your life hear me? I've never seen any one so stubborn in my whole tenure as a medic, except for maybe him!"

He stopped and pointed at Optimus for dramatic effect, then kept on ranting.

"You're not some kind of super human girl! Not only are you still damaged but your system still hasn't gotten all of the energon out of your body! If you don't do what I say and start acting like your better when you aren't you could have another attack even when you don't have contact with his spark!"

That one hit the right button. I had been worrying over this problem for a week. Now that they had come here to find me the solution I had though found by leaving him turned up to be null and void. Being alone was no longer an option for me, they had all come here. I knew deep down that every single one of them had come looking for me because the cared about me, but I was starting to get up set. The fact of the matter was the Doc was right. I wasn't recovered, but stubborn ass that I am I was trying to act like nothing was wrong. My body was in bad shape and as a result my mind was about to go haywire to match. I took one good look at the people around me and then proceeded to blow up in ratchet's face much the same way I had in Jean's. This time though it was about a hundred times worse.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" I screamed, "YOU have NO right to talk to me this way! I haven't done any thing wrong! What I do with my life is my business you hear me!"

Ratchet got a dumbfounded look and it suddenly dawned on him that he could have been a little gentler in his coaxing. I wasn't going to give him time to apologize though.

"I came here to try and keep some thing like this from happening. I didn't want to make you have to worry about me. I didn't ask you to come here and be my baby sitters! ANY of you! I just wanted to come here and have some peace and quiet! Is that too much to ask for!?"

Huge gentle hands suddenly landed on my shoulders as I yelled in the doctor's face, I turned around to fine Optimus standing there looking at me. A face so full of emotion that I though I was going to die, I had no idea how he had done what was done. Even though he had explained it to me, the change in size seemed to matter little. He was still and autobot and I was still human. Being faced with that look of love and concern when I was in so much emotional turmoil was more than I could bear.

"Please Angel," he begged, "Try to calm down. Ratchet's only trying to..."

"NO!" I tugged my self away from him and pulled toward the door, "Please don't! You know as well as I do that there is no way its ever going to be! Why did you come here? I don't want to break your heart Optimus but there's no way it will ever work between the two of us. No matter how much I might want it too!"

He gapped at me as the realization of why I had taken off in the first place hit him like a, if you will excuse the bad pun here, a Mack truck. So many different emotions ran through those wonderful eyes of his that I no longer had the will or the strength to stay there and try and fight for a relationship that I felt I had never had in the first place. I proceeded to whirl away from the autobot commander and take off out the door of the house and across the farm. I heard him calling to me as I ran but I convinced my self that I couldn't go back, That I would be kidding my self if I tried to believe that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

That's when Ratchet's warning came back to haunt me. I had made it to the door of the barn and was planning on going inside to hide my self when I felt it hit. The horrid sensations that I had been experiencing from the moment Optimus had gone into my mind. Energy running through me with power enough to keep a transformer alive, only this time however there was no spark there to need or control the power. So it hit me directly.

Back at the house they were just getting their wits back and starting after me when they heard me start screaming.


	5. The River and The Highway part 5

Author's notes: Hey folks, sorry it took me so long to get this chappie up. I have had issues. Any how, hope you like it.

RP1

The River and The Highway part 4

I woke up slowly to the feeling of a pair of strong arms around me and the smell of straw in my nose. I opened my eyes and realized that I one had some how gotten up into the barn loft and two, Optimus was leaning back against the wall holding me. Keeping me wrapped up in one of the blankets that he had found up there. Contrary to what some of you out there might think, contrary to what I up until that moment had believed, the body of an autobot is any thing but hard and cold. Thanks to this instead of waking up half frozen to death, like I had thought I would. I was dry and warm and felt the safer than I had in a very long time.

He must have felt me move or some how else known that I was awake because he shifted me in his arms a bit and looked down at me.

"Hey Angel," he smiled.

I tried my best to set up only to feel a wave of nausea come crashing down on me. I promptly leaned back against him and waited for it to past. Once it was over I raised my hand up and touched my face like I was trying to see if it were all still there. I was.

"Oh," I moaned a little at him, "What happened this time?"

"Exactly what Ratchet told you would happen."

I really didn't have the energy to fight with him so I just let out a big sigh and tried to pull away from him. He kept hold of me but thankfully changed the subject.

"So why do you have this stuff up here? The blankets and straw...." He paused and looked around, "This place hasn't been used in a while."

I looked up at him trying to guess what he had on his mind but I couldn't read his face for once so I just answered him.

"In the summer they use it to dry out the local tobacco crops, then when they take that down they replace the straw for me. I keep the blankets and things here, because when I'm staying here I like to come up here and write."

He looked around again and nodded, "It's a good place for that, its very peaceful here."

He closed his own eyes and leaned his head back against the wall for a moment, just enjoying the silence of the place. I put my head on his shoulder and enjoyed being near him. It wasn't real, but for a few minutes at least I could pretend that some how, some way, it was. That right then we were nothing more than two lovers hiding from the rain and the rest of the world.

Then reality came crashing back down on me as I heard him sigh and felt him shift me around again in his arms.

"Opt..." I got about one syllable out.

"Wait," He brought his hand up and put one finger over my mouth, "Just hush up for a second and let _Me_ talk for a change will you?"

I was pretty stunned not to mention the fact that it was an insufferably cute gesture, so I stopped talking and got ready to listen to what he had to tell me.

"First off, tell me why you keep on running away from me? You of all people don't seem like the type of person that thinks running will solve any thing"

I opened my mouth to explain but he kept talking.

"Secondly I want to know do you care about me as much as I care about you. Because I love you Angel, I'm not going to fool around and pretend that I don't."

Despite the fact I felt like I was gonna barf I pulled away from him and looked straight into his face.

"You don't know why I took off? Optimus, how can you not know why I took off?"

He thought about that for a second and then started talking again.

"See that's what I thought." He nodded to him self, "You think because your human and I'm not that we can't or shouldn't have a relationship, Why not?"

"Why not," I gapped, "What do you mean "Why not?" Can't you figure it out?"

"Not really," he replied.

"Well for one thing," I tapped my hand on his arm, "There is the fact you mentioned, that you're a robot and I'm human. For a second thing, I don't ever want to be around so I could be used against you. Finally I don't think that my family would ever accept you and I refuse to subject some one I care about as much as you to that kind of treatment!"

He thought about this for a second, as several things I couldn't read passed over his face. Then he turned back to me.

"You know, I don't really give a slag what your family thinks about me." He stated, "And as for you being used against me as a weapon, while it is always a possibility there is the fact that more autobots than just me want to protect you."

I thought about that for a second as he continued.

"Chances are yes, having a relationship with me would put you in danger, but the same goes for any kind of relationship. While the threats usually aren't life and death, there is always the danger that some one will get hurt Angel."

I wanted to say some thing, but I could tell he still wasn't done so I did my best to keep my yap shut and let him continue.

"As for you being human and me being an autobot... He trailed off and then started again, "Dose it really make that much of a difference to you that our bodies aren't the same, because I couldn't care less."

"I'm sorry," I told him, "But I don't know what you mean? How can it not matter?"

"Simple, all I see when I look at you Angel, is a young beautiful woman, who's very lonely and scared, and capable off immense love if just given the chance."

"Your right, I admit it. I am scared Optimus," I couldn't help but feel the tears in my eyes start.

He saw this and pulled me back into his arms just hugging me for a few moments.

"I'm sorry," I muttered against him, "But yes, I do love you as much as you love me. I'm just terrified of getting hurt. Of what might happen if I let some one in."

"You weren't scared that night on the road..."

"Yes I was. I was terrified that when any one I knew found out what I had done, that they would turn against me, just like they do every one that doesn't meet their expectations."

He nodded at me, "I can understand that, but unfortunately taking the path of least resistance isn't something that I've ever been able to do..."

"I don't understand?"

Optimus got that strange look on his face again, "Since the day I was put in command it's always been for me, take command, go from one place to another and never ever let anything stand in the way of what I was doing. If I did, and there were more than a few times, it either wound up getting someone I loved hurt, or putting my whole world in danger."

He let out another long sigh, "now I'm sorry, I came here to find you and tell you how I felt, not let you play therapist to me."

I shook my head at him, "Do you honestly think there is a way to make this work, that the two of us could be happy together?"

"Yes I do, I wouldn't be here if I didn't. I'm not claming that it's gonna be perfect, no relationship is..."

"But we should be at least willing to try?" I finished.

"Yeah," he said, and then he grinned at me, "Ya' know you never did answer my second question."

"Oh? What was it again?"

The grin came back, "you never told me weather you loved me or not?"

I grinned back, "really? I thought I did? Well then, let me make my self perfectly clear. I love you Optimus Prime."

"See?" he grinned more at me, "The world didn't come to an end by you saying it."

"Well even if it had," I paused and smiled my self, "It wouldn't matter. I've already made it to heaven here on earth."

I put my arms around his neck and he pulled me up into a long hug. If the truth were told we probably could have stayed like that the rest of the night, we probably would have if something hadn't snapped the two of us back to reality. The energon surges.

Just as I was there snuggling up to the man of my dreams, one of the worst ones yet proceeded to hit me. It left me gasping and shaking so bad that I nearly fell out of his arms.

"Slag," He muttered, "I was hoping me being here would be enough to make those stop."

"Guess not," I managed.

I held on to him until the trembling finally stopped and I could get some air back down my lungs.

"We have got to go back to the house and see if there is something Ratchet can do to stop this."

Of all the things that could have happened next I wasn't prepared for his reaction. For some strange reason he looked down at me and proceeded to, of all things, get embarrassed. He muttered something under his breath and I got the sneaking suspicion that he knew more than he had told me about how to get rid of this.

"Optimus?"

I found out right then and there that it is indeed possible for transformers to blush because as he looked back down at me his face started to take on a purplish tinge around his cheeks.

"Ahhh....Ummm..." He tried.

"Speak in coherent sentences." I ordered.

He coughed and tried again, "Ratchet already told me how to ahh... get the energon out of you're system."

"Mind sharing?"  
"There has to be an energy transfer..." the blush was getting worse.

"Come again?" I wanted clarification, even though I had a feeling where this was going to go.

"Between umm... your and my bodies...again..." if that blush got any worse his head was going to pop.

"And just how did the tin plated witch doctor tell you that this had to take place?" I grinned at him, loving every second of it.

He muttered something under his breath.

"Out loud Op'," I demanded.

"He _said _it had to be through the lips..."

"So you mean I have to kiss you?" I clarified.

Optimus Prime, the chosen one of Primus, the great leader of his people, the champion of peace in a thousand worlds, swallowed and nodded yes with a barely audible, "uh huh."

It was unbearably cute that he was embarrassed over having to kiss me, so I saved him the trouble of getting any closer to a brain, or in his case, CPU aneurysm.

"Why didn't you just say so?"

I sat up and took his face in my hands and proceeded to give him a very long kiss. I think he was under the impression that my sanity was going to return when the energy left my body, and I would try and get away, so just in case he wrapped both arms around me to keep me there. Then he started kissing me back.

It was something that can even to this day I can only call indescribable. I have no words; a writer has NO WORDS that can tell you how I felt just then. Let me just leave that by saying it was some thing that I will never forget.

The two of us came down off of cloud nine as we heard the voices of the rest of the guys on the farm start up outside of the barn. I pulled away and smiled at him.

"I think we'd better head back now."

"Yeah," He smiled back down at me and kissed me on the nose, "I'm glad."

"For what," I asked.

"That the two of us finally found a bridge for ourselves," he hugged me.

Then pulled me to my feet and headed for the ladder down to the main part of the barn.

"I love you," I told him as we started down.

"I love you too Angel."

I had come to this place with the belief that I would never be able to have what I wanted, That I would spend my life alone wanting for some one that I could never have. The truth was that I had just been running because I had been scared. As the two of us were ushered back to the house, I realized that I was immensely glad that I had been wrong, and I swore that this time... This time I wouldn't ever allow this bridge to be burned again.


	6. Epilog

The River and The Highway: Epilog

I woke up the next morning before every one else save Optimus. He had been in my room with me the night be for but now was no where to be found. I pulled my self up out of bed and proceeded to head out to find my new beau. I found Alyssa and Wheeljack curled up on the couch. The seeds of what I thought I saw between the two of them were planted and well on their way to growing. I for one wanted to see just what kind of fruit this one would bear.

The other guys, Prowl, Jazz, and Bluestreak, along with Ratchet had discovered my game cube and had finally passed out some time around three, once again leaving the poor lil' PIKMIN, trapped in perpetual pause. I managed to sneak past all of them and headed for the kitchen to see if the missing autobot CO was in there.

No such luck, though I did find something else. The fire and ice rose that he had left me the first day he had shown up had been cut and put in a vase of water. It was now sitting on the kitchen table and was just shy of being in full bloom. I sat down for a second and stared at the thing. The strange flower had been the start of all of this. While they had been my favorite flower before, now the meaning of them was doubly special.

As I stared at the thing, the first few bits of sun light proceeded to come through the window and hit it. The last few petals opened and that was when I got an even bigger shock. Settled inside of the thing was what looked to be a tiny version of the Matrix. I was on a long gold chain and was just sitting there almost glowing at me, seemingly begging for me to pick it up.

"Do you like it?" A very familiar voice asked from behind me.

"Its ..." Again I was at a loss for words. "What is it?" I finally managed.

"A lil' gift for you," Optimus reached into the flower and pulled it out. "By the way, don't ask how I got it in there, I'm STILL not sure how Wheeljack managed that."

He held it out for me and I took it in my hands, "It's beautiful, but I mean why?"

Optimus smiled at me, "I don't know what the custom is here on your world, but on cybertron when some one wishes for another to become their ... uhh... well I don't know the human term but we call them Life Mates." He paused and flushed then managed to regain his composure. "Any how, when someone wishes for a femme to be his life mate the custom is to ask her by giving her a gift. Usually something that is important to that person. I couldn't think of any thing else that would suit you than this."  
He ran one finger over the chain and touched my hand.

"So, basically you're asking me to...?"

"Yes, but only if you wish too." He flushed again.

"I think you know what my answer is Optimus Prime." I reached up and slid the chain over my head.

He broke into a smile and stood up pulling me up along with him, then pulled me into a kiss much the same way I had him last night. When we finally did come up for air we realized we had an audience.

"Their watching us you know?" He told me.

"Then let's give them something to talk about."


	7. Author's note and Song Lyrics

Author's notes and Lyrics:

Once again this story was inspired by a song. 

The following are the lyrics.

It is used with out permission and this is only for entertainment purposes.

The River and The Highway

She follows the path of least resistance

She doesn't care to see the mountain top

She twists and turns with no regard to distance

She never comes to a stop

And she rolls

She's a river

Where she goes

Time will tell

Heaven knows

He can't go with her

And she rolls

All by her self

All by her self

He's headed for a single destination

He doesn't care what's standing in his path

He's a line between two points of separation

He ends just where it says to on the map

And he rolls

He's a highway

Where he goes

Time will tell

Heaven knows

She can't go with him

And he rolls

All by him self

All by him self

And every now and then

He offers her his shoulder

And every now and then

She over flows

And every now and then

A bridge crosses over

It's a moment

That every lover knows.

And she roll (and he rolls)  
She's a river (he's a highway)

Where she goes (where he goes)

Time will tell (time will tell)

Heaven knows

He can't go with her (she can't go with him)

And she rolls (and he rolls)

All by her self (all by him self)

And they roll all by them selves.

All by them selves

Fare the well

Author's notes:  
  
I hope all of you liked these last few chapters.  
Sorry that it took me so long to get them up. I have had a nasty cold and I just started a new job. Thanks again for all the support and keep watching for some new stories I will be starting soon.  
Thanks again

RP1


End file.
